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STATE OF THE PROVINCE ADDRESS
BILIRAN 13TH PROVINCEHOOD ANNIVERSARY
Delivered by
HON. ROGELIO J. ESPINA, MD, FPOA
Governor, Province of Biliran
May 11, 2005
Our young, dynamic and very supportive congressman of the Lone District of Biliran, Congressman Gerryboy Espina, Jr.; the highly respected Presiding Officer of this esteemed august body, Honorable Vice-Governor Carlos L. Chan, Sr.; the equally respected members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan; the Most Reverend Msgr. Felomino G. Bactol of the Diocese of Naval and other clergies of the different religious communities, our 8 pro-active Local Chief Executives of the 8 Municipalities of the Province headed by the president of the Local Mayor's League, a 3-time Congressman and presently Mayor of the capital town of Naval, Mayor Gerardo Espina Sr.; our Honorable Vice-Mayors and SB Members of the 8 Municipalities; Employees of the different national agencies and their heads, members of Non-Government Organization, mga minamahal kong mga Magsasaka, Mangingisda, Women's Organization, Teachers, Health Workers, Senior Citizens, Kabataan, Officials and personnel of both the Provincial and Local Governments, Cecil, distinguished visitors, and to all the people in the Municipality of Naval, Almeria, Kawayan , Culaba, Maripipi, Caibiran, Cabucgayan, and in Biliran who are listening through Radyo Natin and DYVL, ako po si Doktor ROGER ESPINA bumabati ng isang maayong buntag sa inyong tanan.
I am once again privileged and glad to take center stage to deliver my State of the Province Address to my beloved people of Biliran Province. After having served the Biliranons for almost 4 years as your Provincial Governor- I am filled with pride as I stand before you to report the achievements of this administration, and to refresh you and my constituents about my priority programs for the time to come.
In my previous state of the province addresses, I have emphatically said that the efforts and the sources of my administration would focus on the development of the social sector and at the same time giving priority to the economic sector and infrastructure development. These guideposts for leading Bililran to progress have not changed much; we have only enhanced the enabling strategies and sustain the effective ones.
With your legislative support for which I am sincerely thankful, with the hard work, dedication and cooperation of the personnel and staff of the provincial government, the local and national government and non-government organizations, and with the effective teamwork that I get from our supportive Congressman and Municipal Mayors, I believe we have done much in our common pursuit of a development agenda for a progressive Biliran.
With this in mind, it is my privilege to present to you, my fellow Biliranons our achievements and our direction for the times to come.
In Agriculture, and under our food security programs, rice is one of the main commodities produced in the province. We have tried to improve the harvest of Palay by our Dagdag-Ani Program thru the provision of Palay Seeds and Hybrid Seeds. A total of 5,500 bags of certified palay seeds and 1,500 bags of hybrid seeds were distributed benefiting 4,528 families from 7 croppings from November 2001 to April 2005. Biliran was then judged as the highest yielder of palay per hectare by the Department of Agriculture Regional Office in the year 2002-2003.
To further improve the lives of our farmers we will now embark in a new scheme where fertilizers will be loaned to farmers. Pahihiramin po natin ng perang pambili ng fertilizers ang mga magsasaka ng walang interes pero kailangang matuto na silang magtanim ng hybrid seeds para lalong lumaki ang ganansiya nila. In a demo forum in Almeria, a hectare of hybrid seeds planted were able to harvest up to 190 cavans of palay providing a net earning of P 60,000.00 in 1 hectare while certified palay seeds planted in 1 hectare was able to harvest 80 cavans of palay which provided a net increase of P 20,000.00 only.
Kaya let us encourage our palay farmers to use hybrid seeds to improve the life and well-being of their families.
Magtutulungan ang Provincial Agriculture Office at ang mga Municipal Agricultural office for this program para sa ating mga magsasaka. We will also create laboratories in order to develop Biological Pest Control capabilities para makatugon sa mga pesteng black bug at iba pang peste na umaatake hindi lang sa palayan kundi pati sa gulayan at iba pa. Kung puede lang mapababa natin ang presyo ng bigas, pagtulungan po nating hanapin ang paraan para makakain ng husto at tama naman ang mga mahihirap.
In our desire to make Biliran Province, the fruit basket in Region 8, I would like to report to you that under our Plant-Now-Pay-Later Program on grafted Fruit Trees and Fruits-Along-the-Highway Program, we were able to distribute 12,427 assorted seedling of grafted fruit trees like grafted mangosteen, mango, lanzones, durian, lakatan, citrus, cardaba, from March to December 2004 alone. Since July 2001 or almost 3 years ago a total of 25, 806 seedlings of assorted grafted fruit trees were distributed. Tuloy-tuloy po natin gagawin ito. Nagdagdag pa po tayo ngayon ng 2,000 assorted plants gaya nf pili tree, guaple, suha at iba pa for today's distribution. Apat na taon na lang, makakatikim na tayo ng mga prutas na tinatanim po natin noong 2001.
Nagpapabunga din po tayo ng mangga for 133 mango trees under our Pabunga-sa-mangga-para-sa-masa Program benefiting 43 farmers.
Nagpromote din po tayo ng organic farming technology to 2,400 farmers in 50 barangays provincewide, walang tigil din po ang mga training at pagbili natin ng vegetable seeds at insecticides at iba pang gamit suporta sa mga vegetable farmers, women's and the youth sector for alternate livelihoods thru vegetable production.
We have purchased digital cameras, laptop computers, and projectors and have acquired materials for teaching purposes for our Provincial Agricultural Office, Provincial Veterinary and Provincial Fishery Office. Para mas madaling maintindihan ng mga tao ang mga itinuturong programa pang-agrikultura.
Last year, our farmers received foliar fertilizers, 6 mechanical dryers and 20 multi-purpose pavement to the different barangays from the efforts of Former Congressman Gerardo Espina Sr. An irrigation project on the other hand in Larrazabal, which will benefit more than 50 hectares of land farming has just been inaugurated thru the help of the Department of Land Reform.
Our heavy equipments have been used to develop farm to market road in Sitio Surigao, Caibiran; Palayan, Almeria; and Sitio Kapayas, Cabucgayan. These heavy equipments were also used to develop several hectares of land for farming in Brgy. Pinangomhan, Biliran and in Brgy. Bato, Biliran.
Sa fisheries sector naman po, we have supported programs for marine ecology development training fish sanctuary formation and evaluation of marine environment in coastal barangays. Tapos na po ang training na ito sa mga fisherfolks association sa municipalities of Cabucgayan, Biliran, Naval, Almeria, Kawayan and Culaba. The Provincial Government also sponsored Lakbay Aral to Higatangan Island for Brgy. Captain, Municipal Officials and Fisherfolks group from Caibiran, Biliran, Cabucgayan and from Maripipi were seminars and lectures were provided and a first hand view of the sanctuaries in Higatangan were experience by the group. It is inspiring to note that we have just inaugurated a two-hectare fish sanctuary in Barangay Sabang and a 20-hectare fish sanctuary in Brgy. Agpangi. Brgy. Inasuyan, Kawayan has also developed its own fish sanctuary and Brgy. Catmon will also inagurate its fish sanctuary before the end of June this year. For their efforts, we will provide new bancas for each of these barangays to be use for the protection of their sanctuaries. Magdedeclare na rin ang Municipality of Biliran ng mariculture zone sa kanilang area. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the municipal official, the fisherfolks and the community in these Brgys. And also I would like to thank RDI and World Vision and BFAR for their support in this endeavor. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat.
Gusto ko rin sanang batiin ang mga Mayors na sumuporta laban sa illegal fishing and for helping improve the lives of our fisher folks, maraming salamat din po sa inyo. In the end, we must achieve a comprehensive coastal resource management plan to ensure the protection of our marine resources and the livelihood of our marginalized fisherfolks.
In our Livestock Dispersal for food security & for income generation, we were able to disperse 132 heads of Carabao, 17 heads of cattle, 316 heads of swine, 190 heads of goat, 10 heads of sheep and 205 kabir chickens from 2001 to 2003.
Nagtriple na po ang dami ng livestock natin and this year's celebration, we will again disperse 20 female carabaos, 27 goats, 28 swine and cattle. Hindi lang po natin mapagbibigyan kaagad lahat pero hinayhinay po nating tutugunan ang inyong request sa livelihood dispersal.
Quality Education is the backbone of progress and development and the need to improve our facilities, equipments, skills and teaching capacities of our educators and the right of every person for quality education is of prime consideration to attain the life that we all wanted for our sons and daughters for them to succeed. With this in mind, and with the support of our Mayors, we were able to achieve a 100% completion of our TEEP projects for elementary schools way ahead of other provinces in the region. The Provincial Government have also provided financial assistance for education to 50 deserving high school and elementary students that will benefit from our scholarship program. We have also provided facilities like repair of school buildings and other infrastructure and water supply provision to several elementary schools in our province. The provincial government is also committed to improve our secondary school facilities thru the SEDIP project were an initial P1 Million pesos is already obligated for such purpose. We have distributed day care charts and working manuals to all day care centers in our province and have given P1,000.00 financial assistance as honorarium to each of the 132 day care workers annually since 2001 up to the present. Thru the leadership of our DepEd Division Superintendent Dr. Luisa Bautista Yu, and with our efforts with then DECS Sec. Raul Roco, the newest DepEd Division Building in Region 8, which reflects the commitment of DepEd for quality education can now be seen in Brgy. Larazabal Calumpang, Biliran Province. Napakaganda ng building ng DepEd, lupig pa ang kapitolyo. It is only fitting considering that our division DepEd garnered 2nd Placer in the National Achievement Test Elementary Division in the region and 4th Placer out of the 174 divisions nationwide. Later we will turn over One (1) Multicab for the transportation assistance for our teachers in that area. Lately our beloved Congressman Gerryboy Espina have donated 93 sets of computers with several programs and educational tools like encyclopedias for primary and secondary schools province wide, and yesterday we have inaugurated our first Provincial Computer Learning Center with 21 computer sets for basic computer learning to be facilitated by TESDA for our out of school youth, in school youth, and other age group who wants to learn basic computer education. These computers are all from the support of Congressman Gerryboy Espina to education.We will also explore the possibility of providing Knowledge Channel accessibility to our primary and secondary schools to widen our inputs for quality education. We will regularly conduct Academic and Literacy Contest in both primary and secondary schools to stimulate our teachers and students to compete and excel in their academic field. Yesterday we have awarded the winners and participants of our 1st GOV. ROGELIO J. ESPINA Academic and Literacy Contest with medals and cash prizes for their achievement. We will also support trainings and workshops for our teachers for them to grow and to develop new skills in education.
For NIT to become a university, the provincial government will provide a seed money of P500,000.00 initially for the construction of the student center which is a prerequisite for NIT to be elevated as a university.
We have also provided a loan for the purchase of a Xerox machine worth P70,000.00 for the library in BNAC and lately will turn over construction materials worth P100,000.00 for the joint project of the school, PTCA and the province for their new registrar building.Let us give our children the quality of education they need. They are our future and our last hope.
Health is wealth and the gift of life from God must be loved and cared for by taking care of our health. At bilang Doktor, we will continue what we have been doing for our people. Free Medical Dental Mission in the barangays, the Free Surgical Missions in our hospital. We have already conducted 5 such mission implemented by Amang Rodriguez Medical Center, AY Foundation, Cranio Facial Foundation and recently by East Avenue Medical Center were 54 patients availed of free major surgical operation. All in all more or less 210 Biliranons have availed of free surgical operation. We have also provided financial assistance worth P30,000.00 to almost all the 132 barangays in our province for the procurement of the needed medicines in their community. We have allotted under our Gov. Espina Medical Assistance Fund P450,000.00 from February 2004 up to present to Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City were patients who are transferred to the said hospital can avail of financial assistance for their hospitalization. A maximum of P5,000.00 is granted for every patient referred of which a total of 104 Biliranons confined & treated at EVRMC benefited from this medical assistance fund.
Thru our Oral Hygiene Program we have provided 26,195 school children with toothbrushes and fluoride enrich toothpaste last school year to prevent dental caries and in order to educate our children in brushing their teeth properly for their health and well-being. Our Dagdag Liwanag Para Sa Katarata at iba pa is a yearly activity of which a total of 104 patients have availed of free cataract & pterygium operation. By November or December of this year we will have our 4th Free Eye Surgery to further diminish the burden of our people who have poor vision particularly our senior citizens.
Under our Kadugo Tayo Program, which is our Provincial Blood Letting Program, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the people who have offered their own blood to save the life of others. We have been very successful in this program and that Barangay Officials and Health Workers and the Municipal Officials from Almeria are the main movers for this noble cause. I'm proud to say that Brgy. Capt. Cirila Caparro of Poblacion, Almeria was last year's Provincial & Regional Awardee of the Kadugo Tayo and Sandugo Award respectively. She later became the only Brgy. Capt. in Region 8 to be given the national Sandugo Award for 2004, an offshoot from our local Kadugo Tayo Program.
Your Governor on the other hand was awarded the Sandugo Award for Outstanding Local Chief Executive for 2 consecutive years 2003 & 2004 and we are now vying for a Hall of Famer award by July 2005 nationwide. I hope that we can achieve this recognition.
Our Kontra Dengue Program has been serving our barangays & schools for more than a year now by eradicating mosquitoes thru fumigation and others. This is a joint effort of PGMA, Cong. Gerryboy Espina, Jr. and your Governor.
The best is yet to come for a healthy Biliranon for the following reasons: Biliran Province is included in the list of 15 provinces nationwide that will be provided with a grant worth P32Million Euro-Dollars for Health Social Reform Agenda Project of the European Commission by year 2006. Malaking tulong po ito sa barangay, sa munisipyo at sa probinsiya sa larangan ng kalusugan para sa tanan.
Biliran Province is also a beneficiary of a P16 Million Pesos grant from PAGCOR for the Early Child Care Development Program, which will benefit our maternal and child health care services for all 132 barangay. Sisiguraduhin po natin makompleto ang mga pangangailangan ng mga DCW at BHW sa ating probinsiya katulad ng weighing scales, blood pressure kits, gamit sa health stations at daycare center para sa kalusugan at development ng mga ina at mga batang edad 0-6 na taon. Malaking tulong na naman po ito sa barangay, sa munisipyo at sa ating probinsiya sa larangan ng kalusugan. And lastly thru the effort of Congressman Gerryboy Espina, Jr. and Congressman Mikey Arroyo, our hospital will receive new medical equipments like ICU beds, new 500 MA x-ray machine and other equipment thru a P10 Million grant from PCSO hopefully by the month of June this year.
Sa larangan ng PhilHealth po naman, number 1 pa rin ang Biliran in terms of the number of families covered or enrolled to PhilHealth per population ratio throughout Region 8. We have all in all with the support of our Mayors, more than 7,000 families covered by Philhealth. Included in this are our barangay health worker and all our barangay tanod. And later we will grant our additional honorarium of P1,000.00 for all the 1,096 Barangay Health Workers in the 132 barangays in our province .
Considering the migration of health workers for greener pastures abroad, we intend to forge an agreement with UP Tacloban School of Medicine to provide scholarship sponsored by LGU's for qualified Biliranons for medical education with the understanding that they will serve our hospital and our municipalities on a considerable length of time. We need to do this to prepare for this crisis which is forthcoming where our country will be lacking health workers like doctors & nurses to deliver basic & hospital care for our people.
For Our Youth Sector
We have just concluded our 2nd DOK ROGERS 4H CLUB Summer Youth Camp where more than 1,000 youth from the different municipalities of the province participated. Lectures on illegal drugs, values formation and entrepreneurship were discussed by a resource person from PDEA and from other concerned agencies. We will strengthen further our DOK Rogers 4H CLUB in every municipality & guide them to be responsible citizen of our country
We will encourage on the other hand our senior citizen to establish Botika sa Barangay with provincial support and hopefully from our municipal government.
For Livelihood
We will continue our Dagdag Puhunan Pangkabuhayan Program.Under this program, we were able to release P2,213,500.00 pesos which benefited 362 families and 88 associations of small entrepreneurs. For support to cooperatives, we were able to release P1,488,000.00 to 22 cooperatives with 1,419 member beneficiaries. Jobs Fair and Passporting will be yearly activity to provide opportunities for employment abroad.
Skills Trainings for the youth, women's groups and other marginalized sectors of our society will be assisted with the help of TESDA and other concerned agencies.
We will develop an accurate skills registry provincewide thru the help of our local Peso Officers in the municipalities to facilitate encoding of these data to Philjobnet for an easy matching of job opportunities here and abroad.
For Environment and Tourism
We will encourage our barangays and LGU to help us in planting trees this coming rainy season to improve our forest cover with the help of DENR.
Fish Sanctuaries will be pushed in ideal coastal barangays and a stricter anti-illegal fishing activity will be implemented by the province and must be supported by the Municipalities. Maawa naman tayo sa mga maliliit ng mangingisda. Illegal loggers will find their day in court. Let's all follow what is right in order to save our trees. Mahirap na ang tubig sa ibang mga barangay.
Napupuyat na at nagkakasakit na ang iba dahil sa pag igib ng tubig at naaapektuhan ang ating karagatan dahil sa erosion sa ating kagubatan. Let us all support tree planting this year.
For Peace & Order
We will continue our relentless pursuit against any form of illegal activities in our province particularly illegal drugs and crimes against the people. During my 1st term we were able to distribute Multicabs, 4x4 jeep & radio communication equipment to our PNP force. Today we will again provide assistance by giving 9 typewriters, 9 cellphones & 9 cameras to be distributed to the 8 PNP precincts & their Mobile Patrol Groups. Citations & recognition for our deserving PNP personnel will also be awarded later today. Mas magiging efficient & effective ang ating kapulisan with this new equipments to fight illegal activities in our province.
For Tourism
We have now opened the road for easy accessibility of our people to certain tourism spots in our province like in Barangay Balaquid, Cabucgayan where Casabangan Falls is located and the Pulang-Yuta Falls, which is the biggest waterfall in Caibiran. We will work with the local barangay officials, the community and the municipality in order to preserve their natural beauty and develop some facilities to provide convenience for visitors in areas needed.
We have inaugurated our New Museo de Panamao, which will be a depository of artifacts and antique materials to remind us of our long forgotten culture and heritage for everyone to see and learn from. Maraming Salamat sa mga nagpahiram ng kanilang mga artifacts for our museum. This project will not be successful without your support.
We will slowly but surely develop our tourist spot but we need the cooperation of everyone for the maintenance of these natural wonders in our province.These are gifts from God.
In the Housing Sector & Public Utilities
We are presently constructing 100 housing units in Barangay Larrazabal as core shelter for families who previously resided in calamity prone areas in Sto. Nino and in Laca. This is thru the collaborative efforts of DSWD, NDCC, TESDA, the Provincial Government of Biliran, Congressman Gerryboy Espina, Jr. and especially the people of Sitio San Roque of Barangay Larrazabal.
We have also provided housing materials to indigent and to housing projects in Villa Consuelo and to other parts of the province.
We are still waiting for the final land titles of our 7 hectares subdivision lot for low cost housing. I hope that by next year we can now start building houses for our government employees and our qualified low income earning families and pag-ibig members.
I would like to express also my gratitude for BILECO for the energization of Sitio Surigao Caibiran, Sitio Jumetilco, Tambis and Gomez of Barangay Imelda. But we still have to energize several sitios in our province and this is badly needed in order to provide convenience and more importantly quality education for our people.
Tuloy-tuloy po ang ating Patubig sa Barangay Program para sa mga barangay at sitio. Kailangan talagang maglagay na tayo ng metro sa lugar na wala pa para sa tubig because this will greatly diminish our source of water and nagiging selfish na tayo, kawawa naman yong mga sumusunod na bahay na hirap sa tubig. Let's help one another and save water.
At this point let me take this opportunity to express in public my sincere thanks and deepest gratitude to you, Honorable Ladies & Gentlemen of this Sangguniang for your full support to our partnership especially for approving as early as December 2004 the Annual Budget for calendar year 2005 which appropriated P177,237,931.72 and for passing vital resolutions for our people.
As I promised last year, the new legislative building which is probably the best of only 2 buildings in the entire region is now in your hand were you can work more comfortably and productively.
May I also thank our Honorable Congressman Gerryboy Espina, Jr. were in a very short time have shown his cooperation and commitment to serve our beloved Biliranon by collaborating with your governor to prioritize the much needed program and projects for our province such as the early provision of computers for quality education, rehabilitation and cementing of our circumferential and cross country road, agricultural support and the upgrading of our hospital equipments.
This is why Biliran Province surpasses other provinces in terms of development for the people.
Kayang-kaya, pag nagkakaisa para sa lahat at mas mabilis ang kaayuhan para sa tanan. Saan pa ba tayo pupunta, sa dating paraan o sa tamang pagtutulungan para sa mahal nating Biliran.
Sa inyo pong lahat, magtulungan po tayo para sa kinabukasan nang bawat isa, para sa Dios at para sa probinsiya.
Daghang salamat at Mabuhay po tayong lahat!
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| HOME Foreword Message Brief Description of the Province of Biliran Basic Socio-economic and Demographic Data Political Condition Peace and Order Condition General and Sectoral Development Objectives Physical Framework Plan/ Land Use Plan Organization and Management Local Offices and Functions Organizational Structure Personnel Complement Accomplishment Report Medical, Health, and Nutrition Programs Social Welfare and Development Services Agriculture and Fishery Veterinary Services Environmental Protection & Eco-tourism Infrastructure Development Fiscal Administration Other Accomplishments Budget Performance and Financial Statements Comparative Data for the Year Preceding the Year Under Review Revenue Expenditure Pattern for Three Years Analysis of the Delivery of Basic Services vs. Budgetary Expenditures on a Sectoral Basis Local Legislation Report of the Sanggunian in the Exercise of its Legislative Power Results of Oversight and Review Functions Annexes Annex A Sangguniang Panlalawigan Accomplishments, CY 2005 (List of Selected SP Resolutions) Annex B Accomplishment Report of the Office of the Provincial Engineer (List of Completed/Ongoing Infrastructure Projects, CY 2005) Annex C Financial Statements Annex D Statement of Fund Operation |